College Top 25: May 21

May 21, 2012

DURHAM, N.C—Florida State bounced back from a series loss at Clemson to take two of three against ranked North Carolina State, keeping the Seminoles atop the Baseball America Top 25 for the seventh straight week.

Florida State won the Atlantic Coast Conference’s regular-season title with a 24-6 mark, and they’re followed by new No. 2 Louisiana State, the Southeastern Conference’s regular-season champion. The Tigers jumped seven spots after winning their series on the road at then-No. 2 South Carolina to finish the season with a 19-11 SEC record. Florida stayed put at No. 3 in the rankings, followed by Rice and Oregon, each achieving its highest ranking of the season, rounding out the top five.

There was plenty of shuffling throughout the rankings. Texas A&M, UCLA and North Carolina each slid up two spots to Nos. 8-10, while Kentucky dropped all the way from No. 4 to No. 11. The Wildcats were swept at Mississippi State to fall to the No. 4 seed in the SEC tournament. Cal State Fullerton also fell out of the top 10 after a series loss to UC Riverside, dropping to No. 12.

A pair of SEC teams returned to rankings in Mississippi State and Arkansas. The Bulldogs, who have won four of their last five series, were rewarded for their sweep of Kentucky by coming in at No. 24. The Razorbacks, who had been ranked all season until last week, returned at No. 25 thanks to a road series sweep of Tennessee. Appalachian State and Mississippi, which lost series to Western Carolina and Vanderbilt, respectively, fell out of the top 25.

The staff of Baseball America determines the Top 25 rankings. Records indicated are through games of May 20 and do not include ties.